Don't book a cruisetour

[Coral]

19 hours ago, Rudy888 said:

We did the cruisetour last year. The best part was the land portion. We cruised Alaska some 18 years ago. We felt the ports no longer felt like Akaska. They felt like the Carrebean, Diamonds Inter, etc. 

 

 

 

It is easy to get out of the port area and avoid the stores. I actually like the ports (and I am not a shopper).

[Arizona Wildcat]

3 minutes ago, Coral said:

It is easy to get out of the port area and avoid the stores. I actually like the ports (and I am not a shopper).

Agree, but the accessible areas that are a reasonable distance from the ports are less than .0001% of Alaska.

To see even an overview of Alaska requires renting a car and one to two weeks.

Sadly one really cannot get very far from the ports except in Skagway and a bit in Juneau.  

[Coral]

3 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Agree, but the accessible areas that are a reasonable distance from the ports are less than .0001% of Alaska.

To see even an overview of Alaska requires renting a car and one to two weeks.

Sadly one really cannot get very far from the ports except in Skagway and a bit in Juneau.  

Yea - Alaska is huge and so many areas look so different from other areas. I would love to have a car and spend 1-2 months driving around. I treasure the excursions I have done in cruise ports - some rank as some of my favorite. Cruise ports and those areas accessible via land are both worthy of visiting! 🙂 

[Paula_MacFan]

We rented a Jeep in Skagway on our last cruise to Alaska and drove to the Yukon.  It was a blast getting to see so much beautiful scenery and exiting the US and coming back through the Canadian border.  We had a boxed lunch and spent the entire day on our own.  Before returning the Jeep we went to Dyea which was another pretty drive, and we stopped at the Slide cemetery.  The whole day was amazing and we have another Jeep rented for our upcoming trip -- can't wait to do it again.  

[Ombud]

44 minutes ago, Coral said:

Yea - Alaska is huge and so many areas look so different from other areas. I would love to have a car and spend 1-2 months driving around. I treasure the excursions I have done in cruise ports - some rank as some of my favorite. Cruise ports and those areas accessible via land are both worthy of visiting! 🙂 

One of our dog friends is doing just that ...

Driving from SF Bay Area up to Canada thru to Alaska and explore in a converted minivan. I'd go but not great at car camping. Will still be a summer to remember / bucket list trip

 

[karatemom2]

2 hours ago, nasa1974 said:

We did an Alaska cruisetour twice. Our very first cruise was Alaska.

Anyway. We stopped in Skagway both times and the one thing I will always remember about Skagway is this sign. No, we didn't try the pizza. 😃

 

Just another reason Skagway is awesome. Quirky and historic little town. I’m sure the 1,000 or so locals who live there year round love getting the best pizza in town and a good taco in one fine establishment. 

[Thrak]

44 minutes ago, Ombud said:

One of our dog friends is doing just that ...

Driving from SF Bay Area up to Canada thru to Alaska and explore in a converted minivan. I'd go but not great at car camping. Will still be a summer to remember / bucket list trip

 

 

Back in 2017 we took a long (7 week) camping trip from our home in Northern California to Fairbanks, Alaska. We traveled from California through Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana and then up through Alberta, British Columbia, and Yukon before finally reaching Alaska. We greatly enjoyed our time in Alaska but found traveling through Canada to be amazing and beautiful. We saw things we will never forget and it remains as one of the highlights of our travel - despite the fact we are about to board for our 23rd cruise. I am envious of your friend's trip. You really should go.

 

We also do multi-week camping trips here in the US as there is much to see here in our own country. It's insanely diverse as to the geography. Here is our "Big Rig" that we take on trips of this sort. A door on each side with a queen bed in between and a hatch on the back for my cooking supplies. (I do the cooking and my wife does the dishes. Works for both of us.)

 

[Ombud]

@Thrak thinking of it. Thats why I haven't booked anything for the summer. Its more like one of these but with a 7 lb (his) & 20 lb (mine) dogs

[Thrak]

This looks better...

 

[Outerdog]

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

This looks better...

 

This looks even better